A leopardess was found dead inside a well in a private tea estate at Sholur Mattam in the Kotagiri Forest Range on Wednesday.
Forest department officials said that the leopardess, believed to be around 5-year-old, was found dead inside the tea estate belonging to a person, identified as Bomman. He had alerted the forest department who reached the spot and extricated the carcass of the leopardess.
K. Saravanakumar, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Nilgiris division, said that the well had been covered with a mesh to prevent animals from falling inside. However, the leopardess is believed to have jumped onto the mesh to catch a bonnet macaque. “Due to the force of the attempt to catch the macaque, both animals fell inside and drowned,” said Mr. Saravanakumar.
Forest department officials also found the carcass of the macaque that was being hunted by the leopardess. A postmortem was conducted and the carcasses of both animals was destroyed.
Mr. Saravanakumar said that special teams have been formed to inspect each and every well in areas surrounding forest ranges in the coming days to ensure that they are covered to prevent animals from falling inside.
